National missile defense and the politics of US identity : a postcultural critique / Natalie Bormann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bormann, Natalie.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ballistic missile defenses--United States.

Ballistic missile defenses.

United States.

United States--Defenses.

Defenses.

Nationalism--United States.

Nationalism.

Physical Description:

ix, 176 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.

Summary:

Why adopt a poststructural perspective when reading about the military strategy of national missile defence (NMD)? Certainly, when considering how best to defend the US against attack by intercontinental ballistic missiles, the value of critical international relations theory may be easy to overlook. So, how might the insight of scholars such as Michel Foucault contribute to our understanding of the decision-making processes behind NMD policy?

The deployment of national missile defence (NMD) is a sensitive political issue. Official justification for the significance of the NMD system is based upon strategic feasibility studies and conventional threat predictions guided by worst-case scenarios. However, this approach fails to address three key issues: the ambiguous and uncertain nature of the threat to which NMD responds; controversy over technological feasibility; and concern about cost. So, in light of these issues, why does NMD continue to stimulate such considerable interest and secure ongoing investment? Presented as an analysis of discourses on threats to national security - around which the need for NMD deployment is predominately framed - this book argues that the preferences underlying NMD deployment are driven by considerations beyond the scope of strategic approaches and issues. The conventional wisdom supporting NMD is contested using interpretive modes of inquiry provided by critical social theory and poststructuralism, and it is suggested that NMD strategy should be viewed in the context of US national identity.

This book seeks to establish a dialogue between the fields of critical international relations theory and US foreign policy, by illustrating how the concept of national identity can be used to interpret contemporary military-strategic practice.

Contents:

Introduction: national missile defence (NMD) and IR 1

1 Michel Foucault and NMD 13

2 Revisiting missile defence 33

3 NMD: issues and debates 58

4 NMD and foreign policy discourse 77

5 NMD and 'regimes of truth' 100

6 NMD and the 'everyday' 112

7 Reflections on NMD and identity 132.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [145]-170) and index.

ISBN:

9780719074707

0719074703

OCLC:

181601617